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MELODIOUS MARKETING: THE INTENTIONS OF MUSIC IN T.V. COMMERCIALS
Melodious Marketing: The Intentions of Music in T.V. Commercials
Katelyn Reithel
Indiana State University
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Abstract:
Whether intentional or not, music seems to be an important element in television
commercials. This thesis will determine exactly how effective music is and if a company’s
marketing team considers using music to reach a specific advertising goal. To do this, several
areas are discussed including psychomusicology (the effects of music on a human’s responses) in
relation to emotional response and memorability, music’s effect of brand attitude and purchasing
intentions made by consumers, the use of jingles, effects of T.V. commercials on the music
industry, and the challenges that may arise by using music in a T.V. commercial. Regardless of
the positives or negatives, music does indeed play a role in the effectiveness of a T.V.
commercial to consumers and is a consideration all companies must include when creating their
T.V. commercials.
Keywords: music, television, commercials, jingles, consumers
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Background:
Music can be an intentional performance or simply background noise used to fill empty
space or a void. Regardless of culture or societal organization, music has significance in how we
express ourselves or ideas that may or may not be physical. This art form can be heard and
performed in several instances of our daily interactions. Examples of this include elevator music,
a religious ceremony or prayer, going to a concert of your favorite band, practicing a musical
instrument, singing in the shower, and humming that jingle for a fast-food chain’s commercial
you can’t quite seem to get out of your head. Potentially, those jingles are the added to
commercials to encourage consumers to buy a company’s products. Or perhaps jingles are
added to fill the void of empty air time of their advertisement? Since the beginning of
industrialization, and even in present time, when walking around the city, street performers
commonly are seen (and heard!) playing tunes attracting people passing by to stand and give
their attention to the musician’s presentation. Frequently, these street performers will have a can
or instrument case sitting open in front of them to collect money from listeners. Is it human
compassion that influences people to give money to the performer or is the quality of their
performance and the musical selection influencing their monetary donation? The following thesis
will be examining this question and others similar to it. A company’s use of music in their
advertisements can be similar to the thought of music either having an influence financial
decisions or filling a void which an individual may not be able to find elsewhere; but which one
is it? Business owners, marketers, and advertisers are all interested in the easiest ways to reach
the public and encourage them to be aware of their products, remember them, to buy their
products, and then continue to buy. Examinations will be made to determine if one of these ways
is through the music used in their T.V. commercials.
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Investigation: The concern when completing any project for a large audience can often be
whether or not you are actually attracting your audience to your project rather than drawing them
away from it. The same concern is apparent when trying to target consumers with commercials;
especially is you are using a specific kind of humor, language, or music. While music is used in
T.V. advertisements of all industries, unfortunately not all consumers in an industry find the
same genres of music pleasurable. One question then is, if music is intentionally used in a T.V.
advertisement, how do you choose what genre or kind of music to use? Then again, this is if
marketers and advertisement teams are intentionally adding music to their commercials. While
there are many studies and research publications already completed regarding this topic, there are
some unknown factors needing to be identified and given further examination. Through several
examples of industries in the past and present using music in their T.V. advertisements, the role
of music in human cognitive function, industry successes or failures in commercial marketing
using music, as well as discovering whether their use of music is an intentional marketing effort
or a tactic to fill the void, will successfully determine whether or not the use of music in T.V.
advertisements has an effect on buying power and if it specifically helps to the success of a
business and relationship with customers. This topic is of importance for many industries as the
effect of music in their T.V. advertisements could explain a revolutionary way to create brand
attitude or emotional responses of an individual towards a specific company or product.
Thesis Statement: As stated above, while there are publications and research already completed
regarding the effects of music in T.V. advertisement, I intend to investigate why exactly
marketers and companies use music as an integral part of their commercials and if they do so
with marketing intent behind the motion or to fill the empty air time to accompany their
advertising material.
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To do this, I will extrapolate information from various publications already written, give
past and present examples of television commercials using music, and discuss their successes or
failures that are a result of their advertising efforts. While answers may varying from one
industry or company to another, I intend to have a clearer sense of the intention marketers have
when incorporating music into their commercials. Organization of my research includes
discussion questions to help guide my investigation and document my findings; which will
provide information from many facets. These questions are as follows:

How does music affect the mood of people?
This will provide information to prove whether or not music affects people consciously or
subconsciously. Certain triggers in the brain can influence memorability, emotional response,
and behavior. It is possible that music can be one of these triggers.

Does the music in a T.V. commercial influence a consumers thoughts about a
company or its products?
After determining whether or not music affects people’s moods, this could lead to information
regarding the influence of music in a T.V. commercial to a consumer. However, music that
triggers a positive response for one person may trigger a negative response in another. Music
may or may not create a brand attitude with a consumer and influence their purchasing decisions.

Are jingles create success towards the marketing goal?
While jingles are made to create memorability with a brand or product, it is uncertain whether
these create a positive relationship with a potential consumer and are truly effective in their
position as a marketing tool.

Does the music industry target their creative works to be used as marketing and
advertisement vehicles?
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The music industry creates contracts with companies to allow their songs to be used in T.V.
commercials. This section, however, will determine if the music industry reaps benefits of their
songs being used or if the relationship is one-sided; only creating a profit for the product
advertised. If there is a success found for the music industry through T.V. commercials use, the
music industry could cater their output of tracks to ensure a relationship with a business through
commercial ownership.

Regarding consumer perception, what problems may arise for a company who
chooses to use music in their commercials?
It may be difficult to make sure your target audience grasps the commercial the way a marketing
teams intends them to. Some special considerations may need to be made before using a certain
type of music, humor, etc. in a commercial to remain culturally safe and audience friendly;
challenges may arise while doing so
The above questions will be thoroughly examined and answered using academic as well
as business articles and journals regarding the relationship of music and human psychology, the
marketing of T.V. commercials, and the effectiveness of T.V. commercials to create a positive
relationship with their target consumer group.
By looking through an abundance of material, I will be able to extrapolate the
information needed to make a stance on if marketers truly do use music in their television
commercials with an intention to attract consumers. While this may seem like a new
phenomenon or realm of discovery for some, it is important to realize that no matter how
miniscule, there may be a relationship with advertisement, consumer influence, and music. From
early street performers to television commercials, music has been an element in marketing and
advertisement; this must be for a reason.
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The goal of all businesses is to make money and sell whatever product or service they
provide to the public. It is because of this, print, radio, and television (T.V.) commercials
consume our everyday lives. While these advertisements are made to entice you to a company’s
product, are all components of an advertisement considered when a marketing team puts together
their final submission? Although it would be ideal to focus on the elements of all advertisements,
I have chosen to focus on the type which is the greatest influence to our purchasing decisions and
putting a face to a product or service, T.V. commercials. While it may be background music or
the slogan which encompasses the entire advertisement, music is a continuous element in T.V.
commercials. This thesis will investigate whether or not marketing teams are making a business
decision to the music they include to their commercials or if it has no marketing purpose
whatsoever.
While many specific elements of music could be discussed to regarding the influence it
may have to be included in T.V. commercials, I will instead go into detail on the significant
connection music has to our innate humanly responses. This will be the first element discussed as
the human’s response to music will encompass the importance of the direction of the rest of this
thesis; one element is dependent on the sections preceding it. The results of this discussion will
determine whether or not music in a T.V. commercial has a marketing purpose or if it simply is
added to fill the empty air that the advertisement would contain.
Psychomusicology: Human’s Response to Music
The human brain is an overwhelming organ. At an average of 3 pounds, it is astounding
how many responsibilities the brain has over our everyday functions. From performing daily
activities to expressing emotions as well as being the powerhouse of our memories and cognitive
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psychology, our brains are able to response to many external sources. One of these is music. The
relationship of music and its importance to the brain has become such a phenomena, a new
branch of science has been created because of it; it’s called psychomusicology, “a science
concerned with understanding the system of human response to music phenomena.” (Laske,
1984). This science is able to help us greater understand the connection music has to music’s
importance as a trigger of emotional response and memorability.
Emotional Response
Stevie Wonder once said “Music is a world within itself, with a language we all
understand” (1976). Like words, music can help convict emotion to an individual. There are
types of music that may make us feel happy, sad, peaceful, or angry while listening to them.
Many studies have been done to see which elements of music may help trigger such emotional
responses. Various musical elements used in these studies include (but are not limited to)
differing musical tempos, rhythms, ensembles, and genres. Most studies start the same, with
subjects stating their emotional state prior to the investigation. This is the information which is
compared to results after the study to see whether or not an emotional state changes during
testing. What occurs during the testing and the elements of music being however, can vary from
study to study.
One study conducted in Sweden in 2008 investigated the emotional connectivity of
listeners to examples of both happy and sad music to conclude whether or not each type of music
conveyed different emotions in the listeners. In all 32 subjects, their results conveyed several
elements being activated from a human’s emotional response system. “Happy music generated
more zygomatic (cheekbone) facial muscle activity, greater skin conductance, lower finger
temperature, more happiness and less sadness than sad music.” (Lundqvist, 2008) The
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conclusion of this study expresses that regardless of feeling happy or das prior to hearing happy
music, our body response to help mimic the happy emotions conveyed in the music. Our bodies
respond to music subconsciously; which has the ability to better our mood.
Similar to the study of emotional response to happy or sad music, studies have been
conducted to determine if the genre of music listened to evoked a change of emotions in an
individual. Performed at the University of Geneva in Switzerland, 262 psychology students were
asked their favorite music genre. The answers given which then were used as the genres of the
investigation included Classical, Jazz, Techno, and Latin American. After gathering music from
each respective genre, subjects were asked to record the emotions felt when listening to each
genre (while not being given the names of each genre). “Emotional states relating to amazement
and peacefulness were reported more frequently in response to music than to everyday life, but
only by classical and jazz music listeners. In turn, the emotional states relating to activation were
more prominent in response to music compared with everyday experience by listeners of techno
and Latin American music.” (Zentner, 2008) The conclusion of the study helps to express that
while individuals may have differing opinions about music genres and which they prefer, when
listening to musical genres, whether their preferred or not, individuals express certain emotions
based on the music’s characteristics
Regardless of the study and our ability to view the brains response to different musical
examples, “the incredible ability that music has to affect and manipulate emotions and the brain
in undeniable, and yet still largely inexplicable.” (Shinn, 2005)
Memorability
While music can help influence the emotions we feel throughout our day, it can also be
used as a memory aid. If you think about it, many of the basic academic skills we learn at our
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youth and which use every day into our adulthood are in their simplest form, put to music.
Examples of this include learning the alphabet with the “ABC song” and learning parts of the
body by singing “Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes”. TV series are even made related to
musical ideas to keep kids engaged and remember key moments in history by watching School
House Rock. Does putting academic lessons to music really help you learn and retain, or is this
simply a form of entertainment?
Studies show that while using music to help learn new skills or lessons can make the task
more entertaining, the retention and speed of learning are also increased if put to music; for
children as well as adults. In one study in the United Kingdom investigated if using music could
increase speed that adults could learn to speak Hungarian, an unfamiliar language to all
participants. “Sixty adult participants were randomly assigned to one of three “listen-and-repeat”
learning conditions: speaking, rhythmic speaking, or singing. Participants in the singing
condition showed superior overall performance on a collection of Hungarian language tests after
a 15-min learning period, as compared with participants in the speaking and rhythmic speaking
conditions.” (Ludke, 2013)
When music gets played from your childhood or a momentous event such your wedding
song, do you remember the memory of where you were or what was happening when that song
was played? This is a common experience for adults called autobiographical memories.
Explanation for this comes to us from the connection of our cerebral cortex and its responsibility
of processing our memories. The cerebral cortex is the section of our brain responsible for short
and long term memories, language, consciousness, and awareness. When memories are made and
have music connected to the memory, the use of our cerebral cortex is stimulated and can even
be seen in a f(functional)MRI. To help confirm this phenomena, Professor Petr Janata of UC
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Davis conducted an experiment of asking adults to recognize hits that were on the “Billboard Hot
100” chart for each year they would have been the age 8-18. “After each excerpt, the student
responded to questions about the tune, including whether it was familiar or not, how enjoyable it
was, and whether it was associated with any particular incident, episode or memory.” (Bergland,
2013) The participants recognized an average of 57% of the excerpts they listened to. Over ¾’s
of those recognized were associated with a personal memory of theirs. The results were
compared to fMRI images taken of the subjects during the experiment. The region stimulated
most during the studies was that of the cerebral cortex; concluding that this part of the brain is
indeed related to music importance in memory retention.
Intent to Purchase & Brand Attitude
While I have provided information that strengthens the belief that music is a key element
to our daily responses, how does this relate to the effectiveness in T.V. commercials? The past
section proved that music is a tool to help us elicit certain emotions, retain information, and bring
back items of importance of our past. Marketers look to do the same thing by presenting us with
commercials advertising their company or products; businesses want us to create a relationship
with their brand and remember them when making purchasing decisions. Does the music help
relay this message? There are indeed examples of music being a tool to establish a relationship or
“brand attitude” with a particular company as well as influence our purchasing intentions. Music
may help a company successfully complete this goal with the approach of classic conditioning,
“A learning process by which a subject comes to respond in a specific way to a previously
neutral stimulus after the subject repeatedly encounters the neutral stimulus together with another
stimulus that already elicits the response.” (American Heritage, 2011) In the context of music in
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T.V commercials using classic conditioning, the neutral stimulus is the T.V. commercial itself.
The added stimulus is the music added to the commercial. In order to increase the memorability
and response to a commercial, marketers add music.
Case study: Does Music Really Influence Our Purchasing Decisions?
A study conducted at McGill University in Canada put the effectiveness of classic
conditioning involving music in advertisement to the test. With the help of 244 students,
examiners directed their study by seeing if the music either liked or not-liked would persuade the
students to select a pen that was being advertised to them.
While gathered together, the subjects were told they would be helping an advertising
agency decide which type of music (if any) they should be using in a commercial for a pen they
were selling. Once again, using the classic conditioning approach, the music would be the added
stimulus in the neutral stimulus of the T.V. commercial. In the study, two different conditions
were investigated – a pen advertised with music the subjects liked (music from “Grease”) and a
pen advertised with music the subjects disliked (Indian cultural music). The subjects were split
into these two groups respectively. While listening to either the liked or disliked music, subjects
were shown a slide show of the pen being advertised. No specific information regarding the pens
specs were given during the study. But afterwards, subjects were asked to go to one side of the
room or the other, depending on which pen they wished to receive; either the advertised pen with
music or a non-advertised pen. The results were astounding. The majority (79%) of the subject
group who listened to the liked “Grease” music selected to receive the pen which was advertised
with to them, while the music was playing. On the contrary, the majority (70%) of the subject
group who listened to the disliked Indian music chose to receive the pen which was not
advertised to them. The liked music created a positive relationship between the subjects and the
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advertised pen, influencing them to choose the advertised pen in their time of selection (or
purchase). However, the disliked music created a negative relationship between the subjects and
the advertised pen, influencing them not to choose that pen.
“The results supported the notion that the simple association of a product (conditioned
stimulus) and another stimulus such as music (unconditioned stimulus) can affect product
preferences as measured by product choice. …the music might have stimulated product-relevant
thoughts” (Gorn, 1982, p.97) The music did indeed influence their purchasing decision and
created a brand attitude with the subjects.
Do Marketers Use This Information to Influence the Music Used in T.V. Commercials?
“Attaching music to brands isn't just about gut artistic instinct or which bands the
creative director's teenage kid is digging. Like nearly every other aspect of marketing, data has
become integral to choosing the right tunes and measuring the success of musical tie-ins for
brands…” (Kaye, 2013) Because of this, yes, marketers are indeed using music intentionally in
their advertisements, but some believe this can be a very costly project and may be unaware of
what data to use to ensure the best results of implementing music into their commercials and
selling product.
Big businesses with larger wallets (so to speak) are able to put together marketing teams
and analysts whose goals are to specifically investigate which music would work best for their
commercials. One example of this occurred in 2013 for a Tropicana Farmstand commercial. The
company collaborated with Columbia Records, an American musical record label who conducts
studies to examine what T.V. commercial music seems to create the greatest emotional response
for individuals as well as creating a positive brand attitude between the products advertised and
the commercial viewer. To investigate what types of music would work best to advertise
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Tropicana’s newest fruit juices, the company sought after the details provided by the record
companies latest studies. Columbia Records suggested the song “Carried Away” from their
signed artist Passion Pit to be used for the Tropicana commercial. It is a happy and “whimsical”
song which seemed appropriate for the commercial goals and marketing route Tropicana wanted
to pursue.
The T.V. commercial was released including this song and results of their investigation
where in favor of their music selection. ““One in four people spontaneously mentioned the music
as something they liked" about the ad, said Ann Green, senior partner-corporate innovation and
solutions at Millward Brown, which conducted the survey.” (Kaye, 2013) The commercial was a
hit, Tropicana noticed an increase in sales of their new fruit juices and companies such as Ford
and Pop-Tarts continue to collaborate with Columbia Records to boost the involvement of music
in their commercials to strengthen the purchase intentions of viewers to their products.
Jingles
“Meow, meow, meow, meow. Meow, meow, meow, meow. Meow meow meow meow,
meow meow meow meow.” While reading this, did you catch yourself singing the tune in a
Meow Mix cat food commercial? While it’s only one word, it’s put to catchy music that you may
not have heard in a while, most Americans are able to recognize the product being advertised
with this simply tune. This is an example of a jingle. Because of its catchy tune and easy
vocabulary, this jingle has made its way into the minds of many Americans and never seems to
escape. Most can recognize it simply with text after viewing (and listening!) to the Meow Mix
T.V. commercial.
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While some companies seek the help of outside sources to successfully convey their
marketing goal through music previously written, other companies will hire composers to write a
piece of music specifically for their advertisement purposes. Most of these musical pieces comes
to the marketing team in the form of a jingle. “A jingle is a radio or tv advertising slogan set to a
(hopefully) memorable melody.” (Faulkner, 2013) These musical slogans are catchy and seem
impossible to get out of your mind. But are they a success in creating a relationship with viewers
and influencing them to buy a product?
Are they a success?
As discussed on pages 9-11 regarding the importance of music to increase the
memorability of a T.V. commercial for an individual, marketing teams must consider this when
hiring composers to create jingles to promote their advertisements.
A study conducted regarding the importance of jingles in Slovak T.V. commercials
proved exactly that. After completing a questionnaire, results showed that 89% of randomly
selected subjects do consider jingles effective “63% attribute this to the memory creating effect,
23% to the fact that jingles attract attention and 15% think that jingles are working because they
create a pleasant atmosphere and thus a “nice feeling“ when being heard.” (Karailievová, 2012)
While it is important that these “consumer” subjects felt that the jingles are effective, a study
does not know exactly how effective until putting the subjects to the test; determining whether or
not the subjects could recall the product being advertised using a jingle. Almost 3 out of every 4,
“74% of the respondents reported that they were helped by a jingle when they were trying to
remember the name of a certain product or brand.” (Karailievová, 2012)
The effects of a jingles memorability, brand attitude of a consumer, and overall success
for a company are astounding. While it may take more time and man power to create jingles for a
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company, the influence it creates on purchasing decisions of consumers is astounding and not
something a marketing team should consider lightly.
Music in T.V. Commercials Reaps Benefit for Music Industry
With studies and surveys releasing information regarding the successes that have been
made by a company using music in their commercials, it would make sense for the music
industry to continue releasing the types of music that are being used in those T.V. commercials.
While commercials do make a profit for the company creating the advertisement because of the
influence on purchasing decisions for a specific product, the music industry is also seeing an
increase in profit because of the relationships made with companies to sell their music to be
included in these T.V. commercials.
Exclusivity
“The fees paid by advertising agencies and their clients for commercials can be
substantial (from $125,000 to more than $1,000,000 per year for successful songs.” (Brabec,
2008) All agreements between a company and the advertisement agency are drawn up into a
contract to ensure both parties abide to the guidelines created in the agreement. In most of these
contracts, the advertising agency will create a clause stating they will not allow more contracts to
be made for a company’s competition or similar products. For example, this would mean that if a
car company pays to use a particular song in one of their T.V. commercials, the advertising
agency will not allow any other car company to use that song at the same time.
While this is typically enough exclusivity for most companies, other may request total
exclusivity of a song for their T.V. commercial. “The fees for this type of grant are substantial
for a recent hit song or well-known standard (from $150,000 to more than $1,000,000), since the
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song is effectively being taken out of the marketplace.” (Brabec, 2008) By choosing to pay for
total exclusivity for a song, no other company for any T.V. commercial would be allowed to use
this song. Because of this and the overwhelming costs attached to it, total exclusivity is not a
popular option for companies to pay for. However, it does occur and can bring in millions for the
music industry as well as the company if the music is used effectively in the products
commercial.
Challenges of Using Music in T.V. Commercials
While the sections above have presented facts about the positive effects music has by
being used in T.V. commercials, these are not blanket statements which are true for all situations
and all T.V. commercials containing music. There are situations where the music a marketing
teams chooses to be included in their T.V. commercials creates a negative attitude between
consumers and the advertised products. Regardless of it being a positive or negative response,
music in T.V. commercials is still persuading consumers to make a decision regarding their
attitude and purchasing intentions for a product.
Negative Effects and Examples
An Anit-Fur public service announcement (PSA) was aired in 1998 encouraging viewers
to stop purchasing clothing made from the fur of dogs, foxes, minks, etc. A study conducted on
this T.V. commercial and the effects music had on it showed that subjects viewing the
commercial were not pleased with the advertisement with or without music. The music intended
for this T.V. commercial was ‘Johanna’ by Sonheim which is used in the musical Sweeny Todd.
“When subjects saw the advertisement with music, they felt scornful, guilty, angry, determined,
dishonest, and burdened.” (Morris, 1998) Representatives from the Anti-Fur PSA expressed that
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the music used was intended to be beautiful yet bittersweet, to convey the plight of the foxes
seen in the commercial. “The adjectives reveal that the music did what is was supposed to by
offtening the suspicious and hostile feelings to guilty, angry, and burdened.” (Morris, 1998)
However, these feelings were directed to those who created the Anti-Fur PSA, not the actions the
commercials was intending to convey. While the music was effective in creating the emotional
response it was intended to, it was not directed towards the marketing team’s goal.
How to Avoid Negative Effects
“Companies can’t afford to spend over a million dollars on a high-profile advertisement
or campaign without knowing the impact it can have on their brand.” (Beggs, 2013) To avoid
this, companies may create test groups to observe the T.V. commercial and give their honest
consumer perspective of its effectiveness before it is released to the public. While it does take
more time to do so, this small investment could save a company millions down the road if the
T.V. commercial truly is not accepted by consumers; this test group could ensure this would not
happen.
While you may not be able to cater to the music preferences of all individuals, a
successful T.V. commercial does need to be memorable and create an attitude for the product a
consumer can appreciate. Although it may be an arduous process, the time spent to make sure a
marketing team is doing just that can be well worth the effort for all; the company is selling their
product and creating a positive relationship with consumers as well as providing a service
consumers may need and may not have had otherwise.
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Conclusion
While the beginning of my thesis brought up the question of whether or not music was
used in T.V. commercials with or without an intention, I quickly discovered that music in always
used with an intention. Continuing to write this thesis, the objective came to be an investigation
for why exactly music is always used with an intention.
Overall, I believe this thesis successfully provides information that proves marketers do
indeed add music to their T.V. commercials with an advertising goal in mind. By extrapolating
information from academic journals as well as business websites, a variety of examples and
decades of results was able to be used to prove this theory to be true. Encompassing the
importance of music’s effects on human response, brand attitude, and purchasing intentions, the
entirety of this thesis was able to come full circle and create a complete cohesive publication.
Research questions included what I believed to be key points which may have provided
this information. Human responses to music helped provide facts that music does indeed create
an emotional response to consumers as well as increase in their ability to remember and
recognize products being advertised in a commercial. This is done so through music’s
stimulation of the cerebral cortex. Because of its ability to stimulate the brain and a human’s
responses in such a way, music is able to influence a consumers intentions on whether or not to
purchase a product they have seen in T.V. commercials. A positive relationship made between
consumers and a T.V. commercial can also create a brand attitude which will continue to
influence a consumer to buy from that particular business. Unfortunately, negative relationships
can also be made due to a marketer’s lack of ad testing before releasing a T.V. commercial to the
public. However, no matter if the relationship is positive or negative, the music in a T.V.
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commercial is completing its goal; grabbing the attention of consumers and giving them an
attitude towards the company.
Some marketing teams give so much attention to the music they implement into their
T.V. commercials, they are willing to pay a great fee to incorporate the most popular/attention
grabbing music they can. This can come in the form of popular music already written or newly
composed jingles composed by artist hired by the company. Regardless of which route they take,
companies can spend up to millions of dollars; all to ensure the music included in their T.V.
commercials will successfully portray their products and influence consumers to buy.
While music is creating success for T.V. commercials and selling products, I also wanted
to investigate whether or not the music industry was also benefiting from this relationship. As a
matter of fact, the music industry does benefit. While advertising agencies do receive a portion
of the fees paid by companies to use music in their T.V. commercials, the musical artist, record
company, and writers also receive payment for their work. This can encourage professionals in
the music industry to continue releasing works that are attracting not only their musical
followers, but marketers as well.
Not all T.V. commercials are able to make a positive relationship with consumers and the
music may be an element that creates this decision. This however, may not be fault of the music
entirely. While elements that may also negatively impact a consumer’s perspective of a brand
were not discussed in this thesis, I did consider them when choosing which route to direct my
musical argument.
Music is able to unify all industries through their advertisements with the rest of the
world; reaching homes from corner to corner with the click of a television remote. Regardless of
its drawbacks, conflicts, and challenges which may arise working to create a great musical
MELODIOUS MARKETING: THE INTENTIONS OF MUSIC IN T.V. COMMERCIALS
21
influence in T.V. commercials, the results are commendable to all involved and continue to be an
asset for everyone involved. Above all, music’s influence in T.V. commercials is of great
importance, is considered by marketers, and will not be leaving the advertisement world any time
soon.
MELODIOUS MARKETING: THE INTENTIONS OF MUSIC IN T.V. COMMERCIALS
22
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